Don't Be Surprised If You Get A Call From Amitabh Bachchan Asking If You Know Someone Who Shits In Public

In its effort to verify whether districts that have achieved Open Defecation Free (ODF) status are actually sustaining it, about 50,000 people will receive pre-recorded calls from Bachchan in the next week or 10 days. This will be a pilot project of the drinking water and sanitation ministry.

Source: Youtube

The number that will receive such calls will be selected randomly from ODF districts. Ti ll now 91 districts and nearly 1.58 lakh villages have achieved ODF status. TOI has learned that the selected numbers will first get an SMS informing them that they will receive a call from Bachchan. After a brief introduction, the Bollywood superstar will ask two questions — one if anyone of the receiver's family practises open defecation and, the other, whether anyone in the village does so. The receivers will only need to press 1 for 'yes' and 2 for 'no'.

They can also record their success stories in curbing the practice by calling a toll free number (040-71317131).

Source: The Indian Express

Sanitation secretary Parameswaran Iyer said they have already engaged national level monitors to verify the ODF status of villages and soon, a third party entity will be tasked to carry out independent assessment.

Officials said while toilet coverage has increased substantially from nearly 48% to 61% since Swachh Bharat Mission was launched, poor toilet coverage in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar is a cause of concern. The share of people practising open defecation in these two states comprises 36% of the country's total population that defecates in the open.

"Both Centre and states are taking several steps together to push toilet construction and trigger behaviour change. We are working on increasing the number of motivators in these two states who can engage with people to bring the change," said an official.